The present invention relates to pressure cookers, and particularly to those which include cooking pots using steam under super-atmospheric pressure and at relatively high temperature to cook food quickly.
Because of the super-atmospheric pressure and relatively high temperature used by pressure cookers for cooking food quickly, there is a danger of being scalded by high-temperature steam if the pressure cooker is not properly used. Many pressure cooker constructions have been developed to reduce these dangers, but the known pressure cookers are generally complicated in construction, inconvenient to operate, and/or not completely safe in use.
An object of the present invention is to provide a pressure cooker having advantages in one or more of the above respects.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a pressure cooker, comprising: a cooking pot having an open end through which food articles are introduced for cooking, and removed after cooking; and a lid removably attachable over the open end of the cooking pot and securely lockable thereto to enable cooking at high pressure; the cooking pot being formed with a plurality of circumferentially-spaced locking flanges fixed to, and extending radially inwardly around it""s the open end of the cooking pot; and the lid being formed with a plurality of circumferentially-spaced locking flanges extending radially outwardly around its outer periphery located to enable the lid: (a) to be applied over the open end of the cooking pot by passing the lid flanges through the spaces between the cooking pot flanges; and (b) to be rotated to either a locking position wherein the lid flanges underlie the cooking pot flanges to securely lock the lid to the cooking pot, or to an unlocking position wherein the lid flanges are in the spaces between the cooking pot flanges to enable detachment of the lid from the cooking pot.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a pressure cooker, comprising: a cooking pot having an open end through which food articles are introduced for cooking, and removed after cooking; and a lid removably attachable over the open end of the cooking pot and securely lockable thereto to enable cooking at high pressure; the lid including a gripping handle fixed thereto along its outer periphery; the cooking pot including at least one gripping handle fixed thereto at its open end and located to underlie the lid handle, and to be locked thereto, in the locking position of the lid; the lid further including: a venting valve movable to an open position to vent the interior of the cooking pot to the atmosphere, or to a closed position to permit the pressure in the cooking pot to rise to a super-atmospheric pressure; and a safety interlock within the gripping handle of the lid permitting rotation of the lid from one of its positions to its other position only when the valve is in its open position, and permitting movement of the valve from its open position to its closed position only when the lid is in its locking position with respect to the cooking pot; the lid being fixed to its gripping handle by a pair of fastener pins; the safety interlock including a control member movable from a first position when the two gripping handles are aligned, to a second position when the two gripping handles are not aligned;
said control member being formed with a pair of elongated slots receiving said fastener pins and guiding the movement of said control member.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a pressure cooker comprising: a cooking pot having an open end through which the food articles are introduced for cooking, and removed after cooking; and a lid rotably mounted over the open end of the cooking pot and securely lockable thereto to enable cooking at high pressure; the lid including a gripping handle fixed to the lid at one side of its outer periphery, and an auxiliary handle fixed to the lid at the opposite side of its outer periphery; the cooking pot including two gripping handles fixed to opposite sides of the open end of the cooking pot, such as to enable a user to grasp by two hands one handle of the lid and one handle of the cooking pot and to rotate the lid with respect to the cooking pot to the locking and unlocking positions of the lid.
As will be described more particularly below, a pressure cooker constructed in accordance with some or all of the foregoing features provides a number of important advantages. Thus, it enables the lid to be conveniently attached to and detached from the cooking pot. In addition, it provides a number of safety interlocks preventing misoperation of the pressure cooker thereby making the pressure cooker safer to use. Further, it requires relatively few, simple pats, which can be produced and assembled in volume and at relatively low cost.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.